Once Upon A Time At Pemberley: Imagining a meeting between Jo March and Elizabeth Bennet (Mrs. Darcy)

Guest post by Gabrielle Donnelly Gabrielle Donnelly, photo by Jeannine Atkins If Little Women is the great American nineteenth-century novel for girls, then Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is unquestionably its oh-so-proper English counterpart. But the March sisters couldn't be more different from Austen's Bennet sisters if they tried; and Gabrielle Donnelly, author of the …

Louisa May Alcott Lifetime Reading List

Complied 2022 from her Journals and Letters by Lorraine Tosiello As a lifelong bibliophile, Louisa May Alcott’s favorite authors were Dickens, Shakespeare, and Goethe. A florid reader, Alcott peppered her Little Women with references to writers ranging from Bunyan to Scott to E.D.E.N Southworth. Though we don’t know all the books she perused at Mr. …

Max Chapnick details how he discovered another pen name for Louisa May Alcott. Plus, images of newly found stories

I am thrilled to present this story written by Max Chapnick, Postdoctoral Teaching Associate in English, Northeastern University regarding his recent discovery of an additional pen name for Louisa May Alcott. He has also graciously shared photos he took of previously undiscovered stories by Louisa, some under the new pen name,  and others under familiar …

Lizzie Alcott’s keyboard: seraphine or melodeon? What’s the difference? And which one is it?

I recently read an intriguing line in Eve LaPlante's book, Marmee & Louisa: The Untold Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Mother regarding the keyboard that Lizzie Alcott used to play. It reads: In 1847, "Abigail, who had acquired a keyboard instrument called a seraphine, gave the children regular music lessons, as her mother …

New releases coming! New annotated Little Women edited by Daniel Shealy; plus book on Louisa May Alcott and Edith Wharton

Get your credit cards ready! Here are two new exciting releases coming up this year for Louisa May Alcott lovers. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * …

Just when you think there is nothing more to find … something is found!

I got this exciting piece of news today from the Louisa May Alcott Society: New Alcott Letter at the Concond Free Public Library by Leslie Perrin Wilson, Curator, William Munroe Special Collections, Concord Free Public Library Sometimes a single letter or journal entry can open a window on the past in a way unanticipated by …

A quick update

I realize it's been nearly a month since I posted and I wanted to let you know why. I am hip deep in reading. And it started with a field trip to Fruitlands in Harvard, MA. And it will end there too. After visiting Fruitlands, I wanted to read more about it. I ended up …